


Not Fighting

by arianapeterson19



Series: Avengers Shorts [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: ALL the issues, Avengers Feels, BAMF Tony, Bored Tony Stark, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fear, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Tony, Manipulative Nick Fury, Past Torture, Phobias, Protective Avengers, Protectiveness, Tony Has Issues, meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 10:36:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4957009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arianapeterson19/pseuds/arianapeterson19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fury had no room to complain, he had known what would happen if he made Tony sit through one more meeting without providing decent coffee. He didn't have to be such a dick about it.</p><p>Or</p><p>The one where Fury is a shit and the Avengers have some forced bonding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Fighting

He had always assumed it was because there was something fundamentally wrong with his brain that he saw the world differently. The doctors called him a genius, the papers called him a prodigy, but he knew the truth. He saw things in a different light than the rest of the world.

Sitting in a meeting with Fury and the other Avengers, Tony couldn't help but notice the way Steve sat perfectly still and alert, his blues eyes trained on the Director with an intensity born of military training. Natasha and Clint were also statue still, though their eyes flicked about like the assassins they were, never settling long enough to miss any movement. Settling could cost them their life. Thor was off planet and Tony envied him for missing the meeting. Bruce was hunched in his seat, as if he thought that making himself smaller would make him invisible. It didn't and Tony briefly wondered if he should tell the scientist that. Instead, Tony just drummed his fingers on his tablet, making calculations and plans the same way Steve drew pictures.

"What were you thinking?" roared Fury, continuing his rant about their latest mission. "It looks like a unicorn vomited all over the Congo! You call that discreet?"

Personally, Tony had liked the colors. They made him think of crayons, which made him think about how he needed to produce more sturdy crayons for Steve to use. The super flag kept breaking them. It anyone had asked him, Tony would have been happy to tell them that the 64 box of crayons was the best box to get. It had the perfect amount of shades of each color without being overwhelming. But no one asked Tony and he didn't offer the information.

"Are you even listening, Stark?" demanded Fury.

"You just said, 'Next time I'll just let the Fantastic Four handle it if you can't get your shit together,'" drawled Tony. "Look, this conversation is boring, can we talk about dragons?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" snapped Steve.

"You already asked that when we first met, the answer remains the same. Funny things are."

"Shut up, both of you," said Natasha in her quiet, dangerous voice.

"You're not the boss of me," said Tony. "On the list of dangerous people SHIELD is monitoring, I do believe I rank above creep assail witch."

"That's only because you hacked the system and put yourself at number 5," said Bruce.

"Stark, quit hacking my system!" yelled Fury.

"Then quit making me sit through these boring ass meetings."

"That is it!" screamed Fury. "I have had it with you all. All you ever do is fight. The only time I've seen you get along is when there's an alien invasion actively happening. I'm enacting Protocol 73."

With that, Fury stormed out of the room, shutting and locking the door behind him, leaving the Avengers sitting around the debriefing table.

"Now you've done it," said Steve, glaring at Tony. "You just couldn't keep your mouth shut. We were almost done with the meeting."

"And now we're really done with it. I don't see Fury in here, I take that as dismissal."

Tony got to his feet to leave just as Fury's voice crackled over the intercom.

"Avengers," said Fury, his disembodied voice filling the room. "As I stated, I'm enacting Protocol 73. You all are not allowed to leave this room until it is complete. I'm sick and tired of all of you trying to impress each other, so you've brought this upon yourself. You will each be facing your biggest fear. Let your team see you at your weakest, allow them to pull you through, and then we can call it quits for the day."

Silence echoed through the room as the intercom clicked off.

"Finally, Eye Patch has a good idea!" said Tony, breaking the silence. "This is way more interesting than a meeting."

The lights went out.

"Alright, who's afraid of the dark?" said Steve, his clear voice cutting through the darkness.

"Bruce," whispered Tony, already making his way over to the only Avenger who actually seemed to like him.

Everyone else in the room froze, hearing the labored breathing of Bruce Banner picking up steam.

"I'm hungry, Bruce," said Tony, making his voice as obnoxious as possible, tugging on the scientists sleeve. "Let's order a pizza."

Bruce blinked up at him from where he was crouched on the floor against the wall. In his head, he knew that Tony wasn't actually hungry, just as he knew that the lights would come back on before he could endanger the rest of the team by letting the Hulk out, but the terrified part of him clung to Tony's whining like a lifeline.

"I know you're listening, Fury," called Tony, allowing himself to sit on the ground I front do Bruce, his hand still on the other mans arm, ignoring the trembling that could easily release the Hulk. "So make yourself useful and order us tome pizzas. I want supreme. What about you, Banner?"

"Cheese," whispered Bruce, his voice harsh, shaking, but calmer for the contact.

"So a supreme and cheese pizza," said Tony loudly. "Hawk eye wants sausage, Spangles only eats pineapple-which is gross, but whatever- and Tasha fills up on the souls of others every morning, so she's probably not hungry."

"I'll eat your soul next if you don't order me a diet coke," hissed Natasha, though her voice betrayed her amusement. She could appreciate how Stark was grounding them all, especially Bruce, by pretending things were normal.

"I don't have a soul," replied Tony haughtily. "But you heard the lady, Fury. We need drinks and pizza if we're expected to play nice."

Tony continued to talk about other foods, drawing the rest, even Bruce, into a lively conversation about what the use of corn starch actually was. As they talked, Tony's mind went ahead, going over what he knew the other Avengers feared and coming up with the best way to counteract those fears. He turned it into a game and was determined to stay one step ahead of Fury.

The lights came back on, making everyone but Tony blink at the sudden change; Tony had his eyes closed.

"So Banner," said Steve as casually as possible. "You're afraid of the dark?"

"I'm afraid of what the dark means," said Bruce, curling in on himself more, trying in vain to become one with the wall.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm mildly disappointed that we still don't have pizza," said Tony, cutting through the awkward tension that had begun to build in the room."

Suddenly, the temperature dropped in the room, sinking below freezing in a matter of minutes.

"What the hell?" demanded Clint, perching on the table, knees drawn to his chest in an attempt to conserve body heat. "Who the hell is afraid of the cold?"

Steve had gone strangely still and Tony, being Tony, walked directly up to the taller soldier and slapped him across the face.

"What was that?" gasped Steve, shaking in the cold he only remembered feeling, his super serum body working to keep his core temperature more resistant to the cold than normal humans.

"Natasha is cold," said Tony with a shrug, trying not to be killed by the glare he could feel directed to the back of his head by the red head. "Take care of your team, Rogers."

With that, Tony went back to his seat, threw his feet onto the table, and pretended that the mist in front of his face from the cold did not bother him. Natasha, thankfully, seemed to understand that the best way for Steve to take his mind off his fear of the cold, born from 70 years of being frozen, was to give him the task of caring for the team, so she bit her lip and let him hold her. To her surprise, she found herself relaxing into Steve's chest, his heat warming her chilled body. Clint nodded approvingly to himself, happy that Steve and Natasha both were taken care of, and went back to huddling in on himself.

The temperature began going back up. Before it had reached its normal temperature, the room filled with a child's scream. It went on and on, not ending.

Clint reacted before anyone else, rushing to Natasha, throwing his hands over her hers that were already covering her ears. Tony, realizing that the screams must remind Natasha of her childhood, looked around the room for the speaker. There had to be a speaker. He knew what it was like to relive childhood fears and he would find the speaker and dismantle it in a most cruel way. Finally, he spotted it in the corner.

With a sigh that no one heard over the sound of screaming, Tony dragged a chair over to the wall, stood on it, and proceeded to rip the speaker right out of the wall. The momentum of the speaker giving way sent him sprawling back onto the floor, the metal cutting into his hand bitterly across the palm, but ending the recorded screams.

"Sh, Tasha, you're okay," said Clint soothingly. "You're at SHEILD with Bruce, Tony, Steve, and me. It was just Fury being a prick."

Natasha nodded into Clint's chest but refused to pull away, not ready to face her peers. Steve looked pityingly at the pair, feeling useless because he couldn't help. Bruce remained on the floor, not trusting himself near the others. Tony brought the speaker back to his seat and began taking it systematically apart.

"That's three down, two to go," said Steve.

"Your skills in math never cease to amaze me," said Tony, not looking up from his project.

Suddenly, the lights turned a dim blue. It wasn't particularly scary, it wasn't dark, it was just a shimmering blue like light reflecting off of water, moving and glinting. But it was enough that both Natasha and Tony recognized what it was. It was less effective without the speaker in use, but it still cause Clint to freeze. Natasha immediately covered his eyes with her hands while Tony started talking.

"I'm Henry the 8th I am, I am, Henry the 8th I am," sang Tony as loudly as he could, moving his arms to get the others to join him. "I got married to the widow next door, she's been married 7 times before and every one was a Henry! Henry! Not a Willy nor a Sam. I'm the eighth old man I'm Henry. Henry! Henry the 8th I am, I am. Henry the 8th I am. Second verse, same as the first!"

Tony was twelve verse into the song before Clint lost it and rounded on the billionaire and his friends, who had joined in the song with gusto.

"Would you shut up!" screamed Clint, though his eyes begged them to keep going, to keep the voices in his head form his time with Loki at bay.

"Thirteenth verse, same as the first!" laughed Tony, mocking the archer in a way that wasn't cruel.

"At this rate Fury is going to crack before anyone else," said Natasha with a small smile. "I'm Henry the 8th I am, I am."

The lights abruptly returned to normal, causing all of the Avengers to laugh, albeit Clint's was a bit watery.

"Still waiting on that pizza," said Tony.

"Tony, you're the only one left," said Steve, suddenly serious as he realized that they were almost through.

"Relax, Cap," said Tony, rolling his eyes. "I'm Iron Man. What's the worst that could happen?"

Suddenly, the floor of the room started to fill with water. Tony quickly pulled himself onto the table, glaring at the water.

"Fury, if you ruin my shoes, you will be buying me three new pairs," threatened Tony, though his heart wasn't in it. In the back of his mind, the cave was fighting its way forward, trying to overtake him. "You know what the best thing about right now is?"

If the others answer, Tony didn't hear them. The voices of his captors were filling his ears and he talked to keep from screaming as the water inched closer.

"The best thing about right now is that we're not fighting," continued Tony. "We could be great, you know. And I could like you all. I know that I'm obnoxious and all, but that's just because -if that water doesn't stay on its fucking half of the table I'm going to find a giant ass sponge and throw it on it."

Steve, Clint, Bruce, and Natasha all exchanged worried looks. They knew Tony, the billionaire was a pain in the ass most of the time, he was many things, but scared was not one of them. This was the man who flew a nuke into space without blinking, who provoked Bruce to see the giant green rage monster, who teased two master assassins for fun, and who dove out of buildings and jets alike because he could. He couldn't be afraid of water.

"Whatever, I get it, okay!" screamed Tony, not taking his eyes off the ever encroaching water. "We need to get along. They can live in the Tower. No one gives a damn if I live or die here, you've made your point, not turn off the fucking water."

"What's going on?" whispered Steve.

"I won't build your weapons!"

"Shit," cursed Natasha. "Fury, stop. You're giving him a panic attack."

The water continued to rise.

"Someone needs to do something," said Clint.

Tony curled into himself, shaking on the table as the water climbed higher. Steve jumped onto the table with him and pulled the smaller man into his lap, whispering softly words that Tony didn't hear but the tone was soothing and began blocking out some of the angry words in his head that rang on. Natasha and Clint searched the room for a way out and Bruce paced to keep his temper in check.

In a compartment of his mind, Tony was aware of the activity around him. That part of his mind was screaming at him to take over, that the cave wasn't real, to follow the sound of the soft voice that was talking to him, but the rest of his mind was too loud.

"Fury, if you don't unlock this door right now, I will let the Other Guy out to play and I can't promise that he'll stay in this room," announced Bruce, his voice bordering on a roar, eyes flashing green.

There was a moment of silence, then a soft click as the bolt slid back in the door. Clint opened the door, bracing himself against the frame as the water rushed out, pushing against his body.

"Tony, we're going back to the Tower now, okay?" said Steve quietly.

"I didn't say you could leave," said Fury, marching down the hall to them.

"We all have lines," said Natasha, her voice a near hiss. "You should have thought before you crossed that one. Protocol 73 was designed to allow each of us a chance to explain a fear of ours and why we fear it. If anyone was reluctant to share, they would have their fear announced. Never once where they to face it head on, without warning, specifically for the reason that we have now. Congratulations, Director, you just sent Tony Stark into a full blown PTSD panic attack."

"We're going home," said Bruce. "If you don't want the Other Guy to make an appearance, you'll wait for us to come to you."

Fury glared at the team as the passed in a protective formation around Tony, Steve all but carrying the unresponsive man down the hall.

"Director, was that wise?" asked Agent Hill.

"They needed it," replied Fury. "They were starting to pull away from Stark. They needed to know they cared."

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I changed a few (very few, mind you, like 2) typos.
> 
> Also it has been brought to my attention that a similar story to this was recently posted. So....if you want to check it out, you know, compare styles or something, it's by kelady.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Protocol 73](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12225393) by [GeekyIdiotCassy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeekyIdiotCassy/pseuds/GeekyIdiotCassy)




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